Who To Back In The NBA

By Eric Uribe

No, that’s not a typo, Houston (46-21) really are 17-point favorites. You won’t see lopsided spreads like that in the NBA all too often. But that should tell you everything you need to know about Los Angeles (20-47). The Lakers are streaking in the wrong direction, losing 10 and their past 11. For two members of Houston, head coach Mike D’Antoni and guard Lou Williams, this is a revenge game of sorts against a franchise that discarded them.

Moreover, the Rockets are riding high after beating the reigning NBA champion Cavaliers. Behind MVP front-runner James Harden’s incredible game — 38 points, 11 assists, and 10 rebounds — Houston edged Cleveland 117-112. The triple-double was Harden’s 16th of the season, as well as his 31st game with at least 30 points.

This should be easy work for Houston after resting up for two days. Los Angeles hasn’t covered the spread in their last five road games. In that same stretch, they’ve lost games by 36, 17, 8, 11, and 28 points.

There’s no question the Celtics (42-25) have a top-10 offense in the league. They are averaging 107.1 points a game this season, which ranks 9th, and feature five different players that average at least double digits. Individually, point guard Isaiah Thomas is second in scoring with 29.2 a game. Despite this offensive flurry, Boston can’t seem to buy an over. Get this, they haven’t hit the over since February 15. That’s exactly one month ago and they’ve played 11 games in that span.

The Timberwolves (28-38) have hardly been better during that same timeframe. Since February 15, eight of their 10 games have been unders.

One month worth of games is more than enough of a sample size to call it a trend, and both of these two teams are an under waiting to happen.

Both these teams have looked shaky as of late. Memphis (37-30) just ended a five-game losing skid with a 20-point victory over Milwaukee. To shake things up, they inserted 40-year-old Vince Carter into the starting lineup for the first time this season. It worked as Carter erupted for 24 points. Meanwhile, Chicago (32-35) is playing their third game in a five-games-in-seven-days stretch, so their legs are a little heavy. They too just snapped a five-game losing streak.

In the first meeting between these teams, the Bulls escaped with a four-point victory on the road. However, that was behind a 31-point outburst from Doug McDermott, who has since been shipped to Oklahoma City.

Many would view this game as a coin flip. However, here’s one important stat to note: the Grizzlies are 8-3 against the spread in their past 11 against teams with a losing record. Simply put, Memphis doesn’t play down to their competition like many playoff-bound teams.

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